Bon Chon

I DON’T usually go with the crush of people making a beeline for the newest food place in the city. I prefer to come in when everything has settled down and be able to eat without being jostled. But buddy Carlos said it’s his second favorite chicken in a fastfood chain and we’re going to watch Ice Age 4 afterwards, and if you really want to taste a lot of food, the best companion is Carlos. He can pack ‘em all in and more. The combination was just too difficult to resist.

So, there we were at just a quarter past six at SM City Davao Annex at the newly opened Bon Chon Chicken where balloons and bouquets were still outside, attesting to the fact that they have just very recently opened.
The place was already brimming although it was but a quarter past 6 o’clock Thursday. There was me, Carlos, 15-year-old Jawi, and Imee, and as expected, Carlos was ordering just about everything.

Twenty-four pieces chicken wings (regular and spicy), bulgogi rice, calamari rice, and kimchi coleslaw, that’s a lot for four regular folks. But it’s his treat he says… *when’s the next one, please?*

Imee found the food very hot. We were enjoying it. She did enjoy the regular chicken wings after gobbling on at least three spicy ones, believing that what she was eating was the not spicy ones. Poor her, just her, because we were all having fun crunching and chewing our crackling, crispy and hot chicken wings.

There was one problem, I didn’t get a plate. There was the bowls for calamari and bulgogi, a plate for Carlos’ extra rice, and one extra plate, which I gave to Jawi.

One waiter was called and requested to bring one extra “plato”. He disappeared and never returned.

Another waiter was called and requested to bring one extra “plato”. He went the way of the first waiter, disappeared and never returned.

But Carlos didn’t have the heart to complain, because right outside as you enter is an apology, It’s their soft opening, the sign says, “Please Bear with Us”. And we were bearing with them, all right, it’s just that, you do need a plate in order to eat.

We called another one, a waitress this time.

Friendly buddy Carlos, big smile on his face, tells the waiter to run straight to the kitchen and never look back and make sure to bring back a “plato”.

“Go!”

She did, but got caught along the way by another customer who seems to have another request.

“Uh-oh,” we said, “will she make it back?”

We were by then convinced that the word “plato” can make attendants disappear.

“There must be some magic attached to the word,” I said.
“Plato!”

*Poof!!*

She did make it back with a single plate. We broke out in cheer.

But yes, the chicken is very good. Super crunchy, crackling even. And no, Carlos didn’t watch the movie with us and so we had his 15-year-old son as our date that night.